The Crystal Palace chairman Steve Parish is dreaming of a "fairytale" Carling Cup final against Liverpool after his side's shock quarter-final win over Manchester United at Old Trafford.

The victory means Palace face a two-legged semi-final against Championship rivals Cardiff, and the possibility of a final appearance at Wembley against Liverpool or Manchester City.

Palace were beaten by Liverpool in the semi-finals of the competition in 1995 and 2001, but famously overcame Kenny Dalglish's side 4-3 to claim a place in the 1990 FA Cup final. Parish said another meeting would be great reward for the club after their battles with administration and relegation in recent years.

Parish told Talksport: "I am sure Cardiff were hoping for us [in the draw]. They'll feel they have got a chance, and we were hoping for them. We could probably make more money out of Manchester City or Liverpool but we have only been in one Wembley final in our history. It would be absolutely amazing for us to get there.

"No disrespect to City but I have got a soft spot for Liverpool. Kenny was manager when we beat them 4-3. You never know, this would be a dream, a fairytale after everything we have been through, to get there. But we have got a tough couple of league games in front of us and Cardiff will feel they can do the same."

A consortium headed by Parish and Martin Long bought Palace out of administration in the summer of 2010. The club had also narrowly avoided relegation the previous season and were again close to the drop last term.

But Parish feels they have now turned the corner under the manager Dougie Freedman, who has made the team hard to beat and shown faith in youngsters such as the impressive Wilfried Zaha, Nathaniel Clyne and Sean Scannell.

Parish said: "Dougie is doing a great job. He is giving the youngsters a chance and he is coaching them well, schooling them and making them better. We have made some buys but we want to rely on some of our youth. We want a blend of experience and youth to see what we can achieve and push on."

Glenn Murray headed Palace's winner in the 98th minute at Old Trafford after a Federico Macheda penalty had cancelled out a wonderful goal from Darren Ambrose to force extra time. Ambrose's sensational 35-yard effort just after the hour ended a 550-minute goal drought for the London club.

Parish said: "It defied the laws of physics that shot, it was very good. Gary Neville was saying it was the best goal he has seen from an away side, which is a massive compliment."

Palace make a quick return to action as they host Derby in the Championship on Friday, but the club are not complaining.

Parish said: "To be fair to the league and everybody, that was already organised as a TV game. We benefited from the TV revenue so we are not going to complain. We wouldn't have complained if we'd lost, we were party to that decision.

"Dougie and the guys knew what they were going to have to do. We are not going to use it as an excuse. Let's just hope we can carry the form into the league game on Friday."

The Manchester United defender Jonny Evans, meanwhile, said their squad had to move on quickly from the shock defeat.

"We're very disappointed not to be in the semi-finals," he told MUTV. "I thought we would go on after we scored, and going into the first period of extra time, playing towards the Stretford End, I thought we'd have a chance of getting a goal and seal it from there.

"But they went down the other end and scored against the run of play really. We had a lot of possession but we couldn't break them down.

"A lot of our play was in front of them and I think the only way we were going to get in was down the side, but we didn't manage to do that as well as Manchester United can. We didn't get a lot of crosses into the box. The games are coming thick and fast and the manager will need his squad. So we need to pick ourselves up and hopefully win on Saturday."